LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The New Mexico State men’s basketball team are in desperate need of a victory over Delaware at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Pan American Center.
After starting the season 6-0 for the first time since the 1969-70 campaign, NMSU has gone 4-9 in its last 13 games to fall to 10-9 on the year (3-6 Conference USA). This includes three straight home losses.
On the other hand, Delaware is 5-14 on the season (1-7 CUSA) and are currently at the bottom of the conference standings. The Aggies gave the Blue Hens one of these losses, as they soared to a dominant 97-68 win to secure their first road victory Jan. 17.
Even though the Aggies pulled off this defeat, they are coming off two home losses since then and head coach Jason Hooten said they will not overlook them.
“Our guys right now should be so hungry,” Hooten said. “They should be ready to go play today and trying to get a bounce back and trying to play better and get some momentum going into that huge three-game road stretch that we’re going to have.”
Jemel Jones is a guy that NMSU will have to continue to ride with to get another win, as he scored 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field in the blowout victory over Delaware. Jones currently leads the Aggies in scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game. This is the most by an Aggie player since Teddy Allen, who averaged 19.6 points in his lone season for NMSU.
Another player who will help the Aggies is Julius Mims, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to secure a double-double against Delaware. Mims took a hard hit in the Aggies 81-78 loss to Florida International University Jan. 24, but will be good to go against the Blue Hens.
Elijah Elliott has implemented a spot in the starting lineup and scored a season-high 26 points against FIU, but missed a three-pointer to give NMSU the win. In response, Elliott went back to the court to practice the same shot he missed and said it was something he felt he had to do.
“If I have a bad shooting night, I’ll come back to the gym later at night and get up some extra shots but that one just really hurt,” Elliott said. “I feel like that’s a shot I work on a lot. I really should’ve knocked that down, so I just felt like I had to come right after the game and just get a couple extra reps.”
It is no secret the Aggies have dug themselves in a hole, currently sitting 10th in the CUSA standings. Only 10 out of the 12 conference teams make the CUSA Tournament, meaning NMSU would barley get in and have a tough road to win it all if it started today. This is not what they expected coming into the season, as they finished third in the Preseason CUSA Poll. Despite this, there are still many games left and Elliott thinks the experience the team has will benefit them.
“A lot of us come from different schools so it’s been good to just see how we’re growing together and continuously getting better, which is important,” Elliott said. “It’s good to be playing your best basketball around February and March. As long as we’re improving and with all the experience we got, I feel like we’ll be in a comfortable position.”
According to ESPN Analytics, the Aggies have an 87.5% chance to claim victory against Delaware.
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